Illustration Friday: TWISTED

Illustration Friday: Every Friday a word is given on the website, IllustrationFriday.com. Artists and illustrators then submit an image that represents that word all during the week.

This week's word: TWISTED

Extra background with a photo of the game Twister was added for Illustration Friday

Thought Process:

This was a busy week. I squeezed in this last day submission for Illustration Friday (which started last Friday.) The word Twisted instantly made me think of an Octopus and it's twisting tentacles. 
I also thought of Chubby Checker with his famous Twisting songs. I could have the octopus dancing the twist, but that is a very dated reference that not many younger generations would relate to. So I drew a cartoon of an Octopus with his twisted tentacles. But it didn't seem to be enough.

Colored version of the Octopus drawn on marker paper using alcohol markers and black tip marker

So, I thought of the popular game, Twister. I could add some humor by placing the octopus on a Twister map. I originally thought to add a pink squid playing against the octopus -- really get their tentacles tangled . . . but that would've taken more time to complete than I had to spare.

The original pencil sketch of the octopus

Daily Quick Sketch: Camel-Horse

Since I was a child, I always enjoyed drawing animals. I would even make my own comics with anthropomorphic superheroes, often starring my pets as the key stars.  But now, I still enjoy drawing wacky creatures the most.
They're more fun to draw. They can be surreal, bizarre or whimsical; and drawing them can really lets one's imagination go wild.One thing I have always enjoyed is combining different animals to re-create a new look. By combining traits of a camel with a horse, I came up with this sketch. 

A color pencil sketch of a Camel-Horse, coming traits of the two species into one

I don't feel this is a great character -- it needs work. It lacks a personality; its too simplistic and dull . But with a few tweaks this creature could develop into a good supporting character for a story. (Say . . . as a desert mount for some crazy or exotic sand trader.) I will revisit this character, build on its design, but for now I will just let this character sit in the image archives. After some time passes, I'll look at this character with new eyes and hopefully see some new potential to better this design into something more.

Daily Quick Sketch: Batman Valentine

This little quick sketch goes out to my lovely wife, Carla. We're going on our 5th year together. One of the things we share is the dislike of Valentine's Day . . . it's far too commercial and often annoying to celebrate.

Little personally made Valentine toon for my sweetie . . . Luv ya, Babe!

That said, my wife did send me a old Valentine card via Facebook. It was a vintage Batgirl with artwork that looked to be around circa 1970 when we were just kids.

So in retaliation, I drew this pudgy Batman circa the Batman Show of the late 60's . . . right back atcha, Boopie!

UPDATE: 
Placed the image on a transparent background and tweeked the line tone and saturation a bit in Photoshop.

The original color pencil sketch

Daily Quick Sketch: Shark Waiter

This is an image I sketched during a weekend cruise.
This was a thank you sketch for our table's waiter, Plamen.

The image was signed by each of my friends, just before I handed the sketch to our waiter, Plamen.

Daily Quick Sketch: Carl of the Walking Dead

Today quick sketch was a small tribute to the comic and TV show Walking Dead. This was a part of this week Fan Art Friday at Google+ CBC Artists' Alley.

Quick colored version of the sketch of The Walking Dead's Carl Grimes

Carl is my favorite character of both series. I feel the story is written from Carl's point of view, even though the lead character is his father, Rick. At some point, I think Rick will need to die - leaving Carl to be the future leader.

The original pencil sketch for G+'s comic Book Community Artists' Alley

To me, Carl is the only character that would devastate me if he died in the story. And that's a scary thing . . . because Robert Kirkman would be "that" writer who would do that. (KIRKMANNNNNnnnnnnn!!!)

Daily Quick Sketch: Spider-Man Swinging 2

Warming up for a day of drawing, I came up with a Spider-man doodle. So I quickly scanned it into ArtRage Pro 4.1 and inked and colored the image. I wanted the coloring to be very bold and stand out, so the color saturation was increased.

I don't really have time to read comics as much as I used to. I don't enjoy many of them anymore . . . maybe it's the style or how the stories have lost character. Maybe I'm just getting older and I don't relate to what the younger readers enjoy.

Not saying everything's bad. I do find the independent titles are far more enjoyable now and consistent then Marvel and DC. To list a few: Saga, Invincible, Bravest Warriors and any related to BPRD.

DC Comics has totally lost my interest since the reboot of their comics with the New 52; I don't recognize the characters anymore . . . only a handful of title (Batman mostly) have kept the quality of writing good stories. Continuity is no longer found. I can't tell what did or didn't happen in the past anymore. The best creators are being fired or they're quitting DC.
Superman now dating Wonder Woman?
The new Lobo is strangely . . . normal and boring . . . what?

And at Marvel, I find I can't keep up with whatever the main event is anymore; they over saturate the market with too many titles. The only Marvel books I'm really enjoying are "Daredevil", "Hawkeye", "Thunderbolts", "Wolverine and the X-men" and the point to drawing this doodle . . . anything with Superior Spider-man.

Original pencil sketch of Spidey (with pupils)

I read many people were highly upset about Doc Oct taking over the body and mind of Spider-man. And while it's a far fetched concept to handle, I think the stories have been highly entertaining and clever. Taking a villain, giving him a fresh start and exploring how this all effects Peter Parker's world has been a fun read.

As expected, this will end soon and Peter will be back, but I'm glad it happened and it should be seen as a great creative arc in the history of Spider-man (and Doc Oct.) Hats off to Dan Slott for writing such a great twist . . . making Spider-man fun to read again.

Daily Quick Sketch: Capt. "Squint"

Today's daily sketch is a pencil sketch from one of my sketch books. The character's full name is Captain Phineas "Squint" Falconi, expert pilot and engineer. 

I don't have any real plans to use this character yet. He was something in the back of my mind and I had time over the holidays to put him down in the sketchbook. I've always liked the idea of bird-like people who can't fly . . . so they use crazy contraptions. 

Pencil sketch of one of my many bird people . . . who can't fly with an aircraft.

If I ever do use him, I'll definitely dress him up more like a WWI pilot with full garb instead of this simple tee and jeans. I imagine when he talks, he would sound like Clint Eastwood (hence the nickname "Squint" and his squinty eyes.)

Pro Art Sketchbooks Review

Few words on sketchbooks.

I have several sketchbooks of different sizes and brands available around the house, but there is only one brand I find I'm most comfortable with -- I find Pro Art sketchbooks are the best. Here are my key reasons:

#1) The spiral binder: this allows you to sketch the entire page without having to deal with the pinch (or gutter) of a normal binder. It allows the sketchbook to lay flat without having to constantly hold the book open. This also allows better scanning since you can lay the page flat on the scanner bed.

Examples of several sketchbooks I randomly use at random times - I only draw on the right side pages of the sketchbooks because I have a heavy hand, (which causes too many pencil line indentations for me to draw on the reverse left sides.)

#2) Perforated Pages: This allows any drawing to be taken out of the sketchbook with a clean edge. This is great for book fairs, book readings or anywhere I may need to draw something to give/sell to someone.

Pro Art sketchbooks come in several sizes and also in normal book binding form, but the spiral binding works best for me and the way I work

#3.) Price. These are very affordable compared to other brands. I get mine from any Michael's Arts + Crafts store. Recently Michael's had a big sale on these sketch books. Prices were from $3 for the 4" by 8" to $7 for 11" by 14", each with 80 sheets.
The paper is also acid free. I stocked up on about $40 worth of sketchbooks, but even without the sale, the prices are usually very reasonable year round.

The Pro Art brand logo on the bottom back of the sketchbooks

#4.) Paper Quality. The paper is an above average quality which handles mixed media very well (Like pencil, ink and charcoals. Note: Markers will bleed through the page, so be aware and add spare sheets between your pages when working with markers.) I find the paper is very durable, enough to easily erase over the same area several times if needed.

Daily Quick Sketch: Grandpa Tuko, the old elephant

Today's daily sketch is a pencil drawing taken from one of my sketchbooks.

Not long ago, I was playing around with a story in my head about large animals. I need to establish a few family members for the story and this was the first image I "saw" in my head. (Sidenote: I'm probably years away from ever doing this story, I've about 6 other stories I NEED to do first.)

This was the first sketch attempt of this character. Hopefully during the next few years, I'll go back and re-imagine him again and again -- keeping the features I like and making changes for those I don't like, until I feel his character is exactly what I need for the story.

I know I added too much details for this character to work for a children's book, but it's far better to add more now and edit later. You never know when the slightest of details may inspire a totally new look or feature. 

First original pencil sketch of Tuko, the grandfather elephant of one of my stories.

I feel it's vital to capture as many imaginary thoughts and images you may think of; put them down on paper . . . then give them time. Time helps develop ideas, allows discovery and usually improves the final results exponentially.

Daily Quick Sketch: Polar Bear

Today's quick sketch was inspired by the snow storm happening outside. I always enjoy drawing polar bears.  It just seems that you can get more character with a polar bear than any other type of bear.

Polar Bear drawing digitally colored and outlined with crayon/charcoal effects

I always like to exaggerate the neck length of a polar bear. The bulky body is fun to draw too, the bulkier the better it seems. In this particular character design, I really like the flattop head/snout and the small eyes that simply rest on top of the head.

Scan of the original pencil sketch from my sketch book